Brawl in London Involves Poker Affiliates

A massive brawl broke out at the Novotel London West in Hammersmith, West London involving members of two different online poker affiliate groups.  Police were called to the scene to break up the fight and disperse the crowd.  Witnesses to the mayhem have reported that Gambling Portal Webmasters Association member, Steve Corfman, was assaulted during the incident.  A very heated argument followed between the organizers of Casino Affiliate Programs (CAP) and the Gambling Portal Webmasters Association (GPWA) where the incident broke out at the London hotel that was serving as the venue of a CAP affiliate event.

The Poker Affiliates Listings website reported on Friday evening, "The details are still sketchy but apparently the show organizers instructed security to remove GPWA staff from the hotel (not the show) by any means necessary. Apparently Steven Corfman (a member of the GPWA team) took the brunt of it and was assaulted in front of everybody by security in the lobby while being screamed at by CAP staff."

A shaken attendee reported, "I was unfortunately in my room when this happened. I came down to the lobby and it was a massive panic. People were yelling and the Professor (Lou Fabiano) was screaming at J Todd (GPWA) to ’step outside and fight him’ in front of us all. I am not going back into the show."

This feud has been ongoing for the last several months between members of the public message boards CAP and GPWA organizers.  Accusations have been flying that CAP was running a "rogue" online Poker Room called CardSpike.com.  ACPW, which is operated by the Gambling Portal Webmasters Association, reported that Lou Fabiano (organizer of CAP) asked ACPW’s J. Todd to step outside to "settle this like men".

"Todd asked Lou if he was sure about it and Lou said lets go, so they start walking to the door. An affiliate manager got in front of them and told Todd it was not a good idea and Todd agreed. Lou however did not, it took a couple of people to calm Lou down. Warren showed up and told Todd he would never threaten him and shook Todd’s hand."

It has been reported that Fabiano has a heart condition.  Security also may be the responsible party for injuries sustained by Steven Corfman.